Introduction/Overview
Los Angeles is a sprawling city located in Southern California in the United States. From its iconic Hollywood culture to the Santa Monica Pier, this city has a variety of sights and scenes to look at.
Population
The population of Los Angeles hovers around an estimated 4,000,000 as of this writing. The metropolitan area probably has a combined population of around 13,000,000, making this city pretty damn crowded if nothing else.
Geography
Dry, dry, dry, this city is dry. It rarely rains here and the city itself sits in a valley surrounded by mountains everywhere except West.
Climate
The weather in Los Angeles ranges from the mid 50s during winter to the mid 80s during the summer throughout the year. It is a pretty arid climate and since it’s in a valley with a high population, you get smog.
Transportation
You can take buses, taxis, Ubers, and whatever else you find that fits your fancy. There’s even a metro system here. Personally, I prefer to rent a car or borrow one from a friend. But even then, there is too much damn traffic.
Safety
I have traveled to some pretty dangerous countries during my time, so LA doesn’t phase me anymore. Regardless, there are some neighborhoods to be careful in. Studio City is pretty safe, so are parts of Santa Monica, Bel Air, Brentwood, and others.
Cost of Living
Los Angeles is expensive! You will easily blow away all of your cash by living here. You can survive if you budget properly, but I wouldn’t recommend someone to live here with less than a $5,000/mo income. Many studio apartments in nice or safe areas will run you $2,000/mo. You can find some deals here and there, but it’s a pricey city in my opinion.
Food
You can get pretty much whatever you want here, but it’s nothing to write home about. Any major city in the US will off a variety of domestic and international delights. Take your pick, look on Google, and visit whatever place you fancy.
Places of Interest
The Santa Monica Pier is a place to visit for many tourists. I enjoyed taking a look over there, however, I enjoyed walking around the canal neighborhood in Venice, CA much more. You can easily visit both in one day since they are quite close to one another. I highly recommend Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and a corner shopping center in what is left of Koreatown. Rodeo Drive is a must if you have not been there before.
Topanga Canyon is a neat place to drive and hike through if you can visit it; plenty of scenic views there. Malibu is worth visiting. The Griffith Observatory is cool to visit at night, I went there at around 1:00am if I recall correctly. A highly underrated place to visit is the La Brea Tar Pits site. Go there, it’s a pretty cool geographical feature to see. It’s close to Beverly Hills as well.
Useful Links
- http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-angeles/
Conclusion
Los Angeles is worth a visit if you are in California or have not been there before. I highly recommend visiting this city if you have a goal of seeing the major cities in the United States.
Be sure to plan ahead and give yourself plenty of time for a commute when you visit; traffic is terrible there. Other than that, enjoy your trip to LA! Thank you for reading my travel blog!